Of Gods and Men

Des hommes et des dieux

Synopsis

In a monastery perched in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990s, eight French Christian monks live in peace with their Muslim brothers. When a crew of foreign workers is massacred by an Islamic fundamentalist group, fear sweeps though the region. Should the monks stay or leave?

This film is not currently playing on MUBI but 30 other great films are. See what’s now showing

The film’s final message of pluralism and empathy is forceful and direct, but the narrative also contains subtler ironies and troubling questions—about martyrdom, complicity, and unintended consequences—that it knows better than to try to answer. In the end, Of Gods and Men is a film about how you cannot live outside of history or pass through it unaffected.

This tale of a group of Christian monks harassed and eventually executed by Islamic extremists not only manages to get the politics of both sides straight, it also wades headfirst into the spiritual questions, rendering all of this remarkably thorny stuff with considerable aplomb. Also like Bresson on occasion, Beauvois knows he’s making a thriller and understands real ratcheted-up movie tension need not demolish a finely wrought intellectual superstructure.

…Regardless of [Beauvois’] high-minded intentions, OF GODS AND MEN succeeds at more basic levels—in its portrayals of procedure rather than “good works,” ritual rather than faith (especially in how the monks’ services and singing relate to their everyday experiences), and characters rather than ideas. A failure that is also, in its own way, a resounding victory.

to me it is a film about the personal choices of eight men. it is not an attempt to redeem the church, since the clerical discourse seems as fragmentary and optional today like any other subculture's, on the colorful market of beliefs and disbeliefs. the same deity that pushed some to kill pushed these not to.

I was surprised that "Des hommes et des dieux" was France's submission. I wasn't planning to see it, but did. It's a remarkable movie. Inspiring. However, I don't think it was as good as "A Prophet", which was nominated for Best Foreign Picture, but didn't win. However, if there are weaker foreign films this year, I could picture this one winning. It is a bit slow in parts, but the message does get through.

A thoughtful and complex take on Christian/Muslim relations and a lyrical evocation of selfless faith. It's a compelling true-life tale, with perhaps one of the most haunting final shots in recent memory.